[Theory] NOW [TTIC Talks] 10/11 Research at TTIC: Zhewei Sun, TTIC

[Brandie Jones via Theory]

*When:*         October 25th* at 12:30pm CT  *


*Where:*        Talk will be given *live, in-person* at

                       TTIC, 6045 S. Kenwood Avenue

                        5th Floor, Room 530


*Virtually:*    via Panopto (Livestream
<https://uchicago.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a6c55e8c-fd91-4aee-92ce-b1a901057953>
)



*Who:*           Zhewei Sun, TTIC



*Title*:           Making NLP Systems Robust to Language Variation: The
Case of Slang

*Abstract*:   Humans can leverage a rich set of linguistic expressions to
describe similar concepts. Such variations often reflect one’s emotion and
social identity. Natural language processing (NLP) systems, on the other
hand, tend to be trained on formal language corpora that lacks variety. As
a result, systems show diminished performance when tasked to process
under-represented varieties of language.



In this talk, I will discuss different avenues of research that can be
pursued to address this limitation. In particular, I will focus on both
data-driven and knowledge-driven approaches that have been proposed to
allow NLPs systems to process slang, a specific variety of contextual
language. The first part of my talk will cover knowledge-driven approaches
that inject linguistic and cognitive knowledge about slang into
foundational NLP models for zero-shot generation and interpretation of
novel slang. Next, I will discuss emerging data-driven approaches based on
large language models (LLMs), examining the extent of knowledge LLMs have
acquired about slang and how such knowledge may have been obtained.
Finally, I will discuss potential future directions in further enhancing
NLP systems’ robustness to language variation.

***********************************************************************************************

*Masks are optional in all common areas. **Full visitor guidance is
available at ttic.edu/visitors <http://ttic.edu/visitors>.*

***********************************************************************************************

*Research at TTIC Seminar Series*



TTIC is hosting a weekly seminar series presenting the research currently
underway at the Institute. Every week a different TTIC faculty member will
present their research.  The lectures are intended for students
seeking research topics and advisors and for the general TTIC and
University of Chicago communities interested in hearing what their
colleagues are up to.


-- 
*Brandie Jones *
*Executive **Administrative Assistant*
Toyota Technological Institute
6045 S. Kenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL  60637
www.ttic.edu
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